Page 79 of Just One Fake Date

“There’s cologne there, too.”

That stopped her for a minute. “Okay.” Shannyn nodded once, clearly deciding to confess something. Ty was more than ready to listen. “When Cole moved out, there were three things I missed about living with a man.”

Cole.

“Just three?” Ty felt about forty thousand times better than he had just minutes before. He had to tease her. “Can I guess what one was?”

“You can but you’d be wrong.” She held up a finger. “His razor. I had no idea razors for men were so much better until I borrowed his one day. Sharper, cheaper, lasting longer. It’s pink tax and it’s outrageous.”

“But it wasn’t that expensive to buy a razor.”

“Infinitely better than keeping Cole,” she agreed, then held up a second finger. Her eyes narrowed a little. “You’re going to think this one’s goofy.”

Ty was intrigued by the way she blushed. “Maybe not. You’ll have to tell me to find out.”

She took a deep breath and looked up and down the street before she spoke, as if she’d be confessing a state secret. Ty was officially intrigued. “Cole used to go to work early, so he used the bathroom first. I always loved stepping in there when it was still steamy from his shower. There was the smell of man, clean man, and cologne...” She closed her eyes and had a full body shiver as Ty watched, looking so rapturous that the sight sent a stab of desire right through him. She sighed and flicked one of those sparkling glances at him. “Trust me. It’s a really good way to start the day.”

“Your ex used the same cologne as me?”

“No.” She was dismissive of the idea. “He used something cheaper. Yours is so much better.” She smiled at Ty. “So when I walked into your bathroom a week ago, I realized there was an easy way to replicate that guilty pleasure.”

“You bought a bottle.”

She nodded with satisfaction. “To start my days off right.”

Ty could live with that. She’d bought his cologne, after all. “What’s the third thing you missed?”

To his surprise, Shannyn blushed crimson. “I’m not going to tell you that.”

Ty’s mind headed straight for the gutter and he was the one who had to avert his gaze. He tried to return to the topic at hand. “You and Aidan don’t look related.”

“Because we’re both adopted. We’re not biologically related, but trust me, we know enough about each other that there’s no chance of anything else happening. He’s mybrother.” Her tone made it clear that anything more than filial affection was out of the question.

Ty understood that sentiment only too well.

Shannyn was watching him, a teasing glint in her eyes. Her expectant expression made his heart skip.

He’d missed her so much.

“You’re not seeing anyone else,” he said, watching her vehemently shake her head.

“No! You big dope,” she said, as if he was her brother and Ty was tempted to toss her over his own shoulder and tickle her until she begged for mercy.

No, he wanted them to be naked when he did that. For the first time in recent memory, Ty wanted a second night with a woman.

This one.

Maybe a third and a fourth night, too.

“You should have just asked,” she chided.

“I couldn’t do that, not in front of Derek, and not even in front of Aidan.”

She pointed at his phone.

“Works both ways,” he reminded her.

“As I’ve just proved. But worst of all, because you jumped to a conclusion, I was left dreaming of tapas Saturday night. Starving.” She gave an elaborate sigh. “With only the task of polishing teak furniture in solitude to console me.”

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